REGINA - Condo residents have been frustrated with the increase in costs for garbage and recycling services over the past few years.
This all stems from a decision made by city council, which removed waste collective services for condominiums beginning on January 1, 2023.
"Between 10 condominium [corporations], possibly 14, the extra expenditures they’ve spent is over $500,000 [in the past few years]," said Jeff Campbell, president of the Canadian Condominium Institute (CCI) Â鶹´«Ã½AVern Saskatchewan.
Of the 927 condominium owners in Regina, Campbell mentioned 70 per cent of them are senior citizens.
Dozens of those owners have had to sell their condos or move out because they cannot afford the yearly $500 garbage and recycling fees.
With these fees, Campbell is concerned with the city adding on food and yard waste disposal to condominiums.
Back in 2023, city council approved a motion which required non-designated residential properties (multi-family) to start collecting and disposing of food waste by July 1, 2024, which was later changed to July 2025.
City administration made the change from "a lack of organics processors," while continuing consultations with key stakeholders, which included CCI Â鶹´«Ã½AVern Sask.
Campbell mentioned during his delegations that it’s the city’s responsibility to manage waste.
His ask for city council was to extend the Early Adopter Incentive Program (EAIP) to include non-designated residential properties.
City council originally approved the EAIP for the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) sector back in Nov. 2023, which "would provide a reimbursement of 10 per cent of a business capital investment in waste bins or technologies that support waste reduction or diversion up to a maximum of $15,000 per applicant."
By implementing the program, Campbell said it would right the wrong done by city council years ago.
The city was also looking at delaying the implementation date for food and yard service for non-designated properties from July 1, 2025, to Jan 1, 2027. Meanwhile, the date to implement the service for the ICI sector was proposed to be pushed from Jan. 1, 2026, to July 1, 2027.
Regina is currently in the process of procuring a processor for residential food and yard waste, said Kris Doney, manager of city operations. Doney said deferring the dates would be beneficial, but the city is looking to move forward with implementing the services.
Pushing back the implementation dates "would [also] result in an estimated additional 11,000 tonnes of food and yard waste entering the landfill," stated Doney.
Council’s decision
Ward 10 Coun. Clark Bezo put forward an amendment to move the implementation dates from 18 months to 24 months.
This was brought with some concern, particularly with Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak mentioning city administration didn't ask for an extension while citing the concerns of more greenhouse gases polluting the environment.
Ward 9 Coun. Jason Mancinelli then put forward a friendly amendment, which would include non-designated residential properties in the EAIP extension set until July 1, 2026.
City council voted on the two separate amendments. The amendment to defer the implementation dates to 24 months passed 6-4, with Coun. David Froh (Ward 3), Victoria Flores (Ward 6), Shobna Radons (Ward 7), and Zachidniak voting against.
The 2nd amendment passed 9-1, with the executive committee moving the motion forward to a future city council date.
"At the end of the day, we had a recommendation, and we had some good dialogue," said Mayor Chad Bachynski during a media scrum.
He noted working with city administration to further understand the best opportunities to support different mechanisms of waste collection.
